L.A. billboards target misconduct scandal ahead of Oscars

02/28/2018 17:23

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood woke up on Wednesday to an ugly reminder of the sexual misconduct accusations shaking its ranks as a street artist covered three Los Angeles billboards with slogans accusing the entertainment industry of staying silent.

“We all knew and still no arrests,” read one of the three billboards from the 50-year-old conservative provocateur who goes by the name Sabo.

The billboards sit along a busy stretch of road in midtown in west Los Angeles, a few miles away from the site of Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood.

They mimic the red-and-black style seen in Oscar-nominated best picture “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” about an aggrieved mother who uses highway billboards to shame local police.

Hollywood has been roiled by the #MeToo sexual misconduct scandal that has led to dozens of once-powerful men stepping down or being dropped from creative projects.

“We’re simply tired of these elitists in Hollywood looking down their nose at conservatives and regular all-American folks,” Sabo told Reuters in an email.

“THEY'RE clearly the ones who women should be worried about, as their mistreatment of women and kids that's been going on for 100 years is finally coming to light in a big way," he added.

Sabo said he raised funds for the signs on Twitter and by word of mouth. City workers began taking down the billboards late Wednesday morning.